Among The Stars (Revised)
by StardustCoyote
Summary: Everyone knows that James McCloud died a hero. Everyone knows that Fox McCloud is a hero. Everyone knows that Wolf O'Donnell is a villain. That Andross was the greatest threat to the Lylat system before the Aparoids. Only one of these things is actually true. (Serious rewrite and expansion of the original ATS)
1. Origins

**Authors Note's** : Wait, what? A revision of the same first story? Yeah I know, call me George Lucas apparently. But what about that sequel instead? So here's the thing….

I sat down several times to try and outline the plot for the sequel to Among the Stars, and found myself lacking anything to really go on. So I sat down and tried to flesh out the other characters besides Wolf, and found that even with the revisions made ..yeah they were still quite flat and I didn't have good grips on who they were or what their goals were. I wanted to attempt something bigger, and better than the first attempt but of course keeping the events of the other (and yes this still is a Wolf centric story. Just not *only* about him anymore) Reading reviewer comments and some pms back and forth with folks I realized something unfortunate. The flaws of the first story were going to keep me from being able to construct a well written sequel. So the answer greatly feels like, go back and fix the flaws in the first is more than just a revision of the same framework, frankly. There's a lot of years, a lot of other players involved, a lot of depth that could have, and probably should have been written into the first story. Hence, a rewrite. That said, I'm only going to rewrite this once, and do at most two rounds of revisions. Either it will become something awesome by then and I can write the sequel or ..I'll move on to other ideas. Obviously, if you've read the original Among the Stars - you'll know some things that will happen (although certainly not all, and some things are changing).

* * *

_We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident, bits of a star gone wrong. __— Sir Arthur Eddington_

**Iliona - First Planet in the Ervi System - 24 Years BLW**

The stars glittered far above of Abandale, the largest village on the only inhabitable world in the Ervi system, hidden by the light of swinging lanterns and fires. The dangers of the forest beyond kept many from venturing past the safety of the torches placed around it's edges once night fell, but Amathla Ó Dulchaoinaill often went where others dared to tread. In the distance the pale light of the moon reflected off the once smooth stone of crumbling towers in the distance, artifacts of another age when things supposedly had been better. The lupine woman stepped carefully past the ancient trees that twisted and turned, in their reach for the sparse warmth that daytime brought, weaving her way along a path that had no markings nor real trail.

Through the forest she padded as if a ghost, what of her white fur was not covered by the heavy cloak ruffled in the wind and took on an other-worldly quality in the pale moonlight. Worn leather met the snow on the ground in silence until the desired circle of trees was arrived at. The ground was considered sacred by her people, it's boundaries not broached even by those who doubted it was anything more than superstition. Only priests and a select few others were permitted here. No symbol of faith hung from the woman's neck, although none was needed to identify her to anyone else. The violet color of her eyes, along with her coloration and gender, were sufficient to identify Amathla's role. Some would call it a gift for its insight, others would call it a curse for its cost. Regardless of what turn of fortune it truly was, the Lady Ó Dulchaoinaill was a seeress.

At the moment, the roundness of her middle which often she kept one paw on, also made it terribly obvious that she was an expectant mother in addition. Her first child had been a blessing, _was_ still a blessing she mentally corrected herself. Nothing was set in stone, had been the mantra of her mentor many years ago. These days however she wondered if it had been truth, or wishful thinking. She knelt in the middle of the clearing beside a large stone with carved symbols there before drawing a small knife from her belt and making a small cut on one hand. The metal stung far less than running the cut along the symbols, but she barely registered either sensation as she was intent on her task. She threw her head back, an eerie howl breaking the silence of the forest in an entreaty to any of the spirits that might listen to her. For a moment she opened her eyes and stared at the stars before her gaze focused on something beyond them.

Alone in the sacred circle, Amaltha saw yet again the same images that had haunted her dreams for months, drawing a mournful cry from her lips as her worries found confirmation instead of reassurance. The path that lay before her unborn child twisted in ways she did not understand, but it was clear enough that it was a harsh one tinged with darkness and beings that terrified the seeress.

After the images faded, she knelt there for several long moneys piecing herself back together. Nothing was set in stone, she would have to find a way to change what was laid before her. Amaltha stood and shook the snow off of her skirt and cloak before making her way back towards the village and her own warm little home, trying to calm herself as she went. She did not want her husband to know the nature of what she had seen. Amathla slipped into bed beside him, laying on her back one paw again resting on the growing child within her. No, she wouldn't be saying a word of what she knew to him. It would only lead him to treat their child either as if it was a fragile thing to put on a shelf, or a tainted one to keep at a distance. Neither option was acceptable, especially if she was to try and change what she had seen.

The next morning Piarelyn Ó Dulchaoinaill awoke before his wife, glancing over her sleeping form with pale blue eyes that stood in stark contrast to the dark charcoal gray of his fur. He wondered where she had been out so late the night before, although it didn't deeply concern him. Being married to a seeress meant putting up with a number of strange habits to begin with, ones that other men might find suspicious. He'd long since grown used to it in the few years they had been married. That and as the village elder's son, albeit the second not the first and heir to a position of leadership, he was assured in the knowledge none would dare touch his wife. The tall lupine quietly arose from their shared bed and stretched, was not a bad husband by anyone's account, he simply wasn't a great one

The man was largely unremarkable, other than being the second son of the village's leader. Neither stunning nor ugly, neither deeply in love with his wife nor begrudging of their arranged circumstances. He was strong enough to provide for them both and if anything stood out about him it was that he was intelligent. Had he been born first, he would have made an efficient, if cold leader. Instead Piarelyn's fate was to maintain what aging bits of technology Iliona still possessed. He dressed, shaking out his fur and donning several layers of clothing before stepping out into the snowy day and trudging towards the one building in the village that was made of stone not wood and actually had real locks on the doors.

A few other wolves who were up and starting to head out for their own days gave him a quick glance but largely paid him no mind. His job was, largely to them, irrelevant and unimportant. A task given to second and third sons to give them something to do, was largely the consensus. As the lupine stepped into the building he turned on the electric lights, which were run by an aging solar system that resided on the roof above most prying eyes. The principles on which all of it worked were beyond him in parts, and incompletely understood in others. Mostly because the knowledge had been long lost to his people before he had been born. He had however, figured out over the years how to repair more of it than his predecessors.

Piearelyn strongly suspected he could have understood such things, if he was allowed to ask the people who would have known. Noone on Illiona was of the belief that they were alone in the infinite stretches of space above them, periodically others from far off stars and distant lands would stumble across the tiny system. The last time it had happened Piarelyn's great-great-grandfather had been a cub and some of the families from their own village had left, seeking their fates elsewhere. It was however, Piarelyn and his family alone that knew this first hand, for they could still contact them with the aging technology. Except for the fact he couldn't, because tradition stated it as did the laws enforced by the elders. Particularly his father.

Why it had become such a great secret it was possible, or they put up with struggling on their own instead of simply asking for help, neither he nor his father knew for certain. Oh there were tales and prophecies that the spirits would be angry with them, or that the others they reached had always and would always refuse their help but it was really no more than the repeated words of old wolves who had little better to do. Regardless, it was far too entrenched for even his father to change.

* * *

**Corneria - Lylat System - 20 Years BLW**

Accord Day was a grand affair, at least in the eyes of some. Mostly the Cornerians, one of the advantages of being on the winning side of things - it was easier to view them with rose colored glasses, or in this case through ticker tape parades. Hours of which would be broadcast on the news all day, each anchor or interviewee proclaiming how wonderful it was for the entire Lylat system to be at peace for the second year in a row after years of bloody inter-system war. Unified under one government, for the good of all it's people. Senators attended fancy dinners and Chancellor Voss would make a speech that really had nothing of substance worth repeating. James McCloud would find himself yet again in a flight jacket (because what else was he going to wear?), attending a military dinner.

The young man found it hilarious frankly, that the dinner would be held in his and others honor and yet he and most of the other pilots who had managed to survive the war weren't _actually_ in the military any longer. Part of the treaties that had been signed or some such politics, required paring down the military force. Rumor had it his unit had been specifically listed as a group that would be disbanded under the table to get one of the treaties signed. It meant something of an early retirement for the vulpine to be flying under Corneria's official emblem. Which wasn't actually meaning an early retirement at all, it had taken all of a week for him to form a private for-hire team. Right now the "team" consisted of himself, and his longest friend Peppy Hare who had been in the same disbanded unit, and looking for a third.

James had thought life would be simpler without all the military paperwork and nonsense and he was both dismayed and elated to find that he was completely wrong. Dismayed that things _weren't_ any simpler at all, if anything they'd become far more complicated. He could choose which missions he wanted and when he wanted to fly, except he was taking nearly every mission as his _team_ had to establish a reputation above and beyond his personal one, and if he wanted to keep his ship and have any money left over afterwards he'd be away from home nearly as much as before. Elated, because the only reason that was a problem was that he had fallen head over heels for the most wonderful woman he could have ever dreamed up - Vixy Reinhard. Managing a relationship and his own mercenary team though was putting him at odds with himself, a feeling James didn't like in the least.

The orange-furred fox tapped at his wineglass with a claw absently, wishing that he'd been able to bring her. She'd been rather opposed to the idea, so instead he was here without a date. Peppy was sitting beside him, his own wife Vivian another seat over. _Damnit. _James was impatient, really this was all bread and circuses and the pilot knew it. It would have been fine with him though except all he really wanted to do was go over to Vixy's place and have dinner with her instead. If only he could be in two places at once that would solve almost everything wrong with his world.

The older pilot beside him chuckled, knowing what was on his friend's mind. "Easy James, it'll be over soon enough. Supposedly it's going to be infinitely shorter than last year's because they're not letting any of _us_ say anything."

There was a chuckle from the fox as he stopped tapping at the glass of liquor in front of him. "Probably for the best. Bunch of flyboys like us were never meant to be paraded around on political pedestals. I still can't believe they let Conrad Grey take that microphone after he got into the open bar. I'm pretty sure that those war stories were not the ones they wanted the public to hear." The chuckle faded into a more bitter one. Even drunk he didn't say a word about what had transpired before the entire prison on Macbeth had been liberated - prisoners of war like pilots who had managed to survive being shot down in atmosphere and hardened criminals alike.

"There's a mistake you only make once." Peppy grimaced remembering last years Accord Day dinner and picked up his own glass, glancing sideways with a grin at his wife. The older man was just as eager to be out of the formal affair and home as well, he was simply far better at hiding his impatience.

James slumped down in his seat surprising a groan as some other General stepped up and glanced over at Peppy with a gleam in his eyes that made the older man worry. The fox slipped on his sunglasses and pulled out his cell phone, holding it under the table as he rapidly started texting someone.

"James, please James whatever you're planning don't. Please. It's only an few more hours." The gray hare's ears stood straight up as he whispered back.

"And we're leaving again tomorrow afternoon on the next job. That's a few more hours *I* don't get to have with Vixy. It's bad enough trying to balance the job and trying to see her without this kind of nonsense!"

"I do understand that you know. We're kind of in the same boat, things will settle down soon, but it's not like there are a lot of other jobs out there for us. Keep our heads down and we'll sort it out. Put the phone down James, it's a bad idea, whatever it is it's a bad idea." Peppy glanced over at the glass in front of James and was wondering whether he should take the phone and the glass away or if that would just encourage the other man more, and he ought to go get James a few more drinks instead and hope he was too gone to start any plans. He sighed realizing neither would realistically work and quietly whispered. "Can I at least get an advanced heads up here? I would kind of like to make a quiet exit with the wife rather than get arrested tonight James."

"Calm down, I'm not quitting what we do. I don't think I could. It's absurd, when I'm on the ground I want to be in the air, when I'm in the air I want to be on the ground. I may have lost my mind but I haven't gotten stupid. You're not going to get arrested old man. It's nothing but a little bit of hacking into city infrastructure. Shhh, I'm concentrating." James rapidly typed on the fold out keyboard, something that was considered outdated but let him do actual work on his phone, a terminal window popping up on the screen as he navigated through logins and backdoors that he'd found a hundred times before.

"I can't say I recall you being willing to hack things while in the middle of a hundred or more _military officials and our employers_ for any other girl. You really that over the moon for her?"

"Absolutely. I need you to help me pick out a ring soon."

Peppy sputtered and stared at James. James McCloud, ace pilot, daredevil, hobbyist hacker into all things he didn't belong in. James, the man with a mental black book of girls numbers and addresses that could only be called little in comparison to a city wide phone directory was going to _settle down?!_

"Your jaw is hanging open, dear." Vivian giggled softly at her husband, she'd had her own suspicions that was coming and was shocked that Peppy hadn't seen it. She reached over and with a paw gently tapped on her husbands chin.

"Old man, why don't you go get up and get another drink. The bar is near the door anyways. Take Vivian too." Peppy groaned and got up with his wife and headed towards the bar, so that it didn't look like he was going for the door. He was grateful for the heads up when the building fire alarm went off, shortly followed by the sprinkler system.

Officials and wives in fancy dresses streamed out of the building amid mostly yelps of surprise and a few cries of confusion as James shut his phone and shoved it in his pocket and calmly waked over and opened one of the windows as the room was on the first floor and unlatched it. Waiting in the lines trying to get out wasn't his style, as he landed amid the manicured hedges and flowers before he took off running for the nearest subway entrance.


	2. Dealmaker

_If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power._

P. J. O'Rourke

**Corneria City - Cornerian Military Air Force Base - 20 Years BLW**

The letters on the office door glass declared the relatively spacious (for the Cornerian Military) room inside to belong to one Brigadier General Cornelius Pepper. It was the same as the doors for each of the other generals of equal rank, at least in appearance. The amount of traffic it received however from individuals who were not in military uniform however, was not. Across the hallway from another desk watching the coming and goings sat a large brown bear, who glanced up every so often seeing who was going down the hall. Major General Ralph Brun still was scratching his head over exactly _how_ Pepper had managed to get his pet project - using mercenaries in place of the official units they'd been forced to disband - approved. All he knew was that the Senate had sponsored the bill, approved it, and tied doing it to the budget. It didn't mean that he liked it, even if he had to live with it. When he heard the unmistakable voice of James McCloud, back again from one mission and certain to be immediately given another he just shut the door and muttered his frustration into a mug of now lukewarm coffee. If there was one thing he liked less than mercenaries it was daredevil pilots, and the vulpine who was both was in his mind far more of a liability despite his achievements. Maybe one day that would bite Pepper in the tail, General Brun would like that.

Whatever the other general felt about the matter, it was on Pepper's desk the approval and dispensation of various missions as he saw fit to whichever team was on the approved list. StarFox was absolutely on the approved list, and really if anything Pepper was loving the fact that he could hire them back but not under official military colors. All the measure of obedience he'd ever gotten out of James McCloud, and a lot more deniability if anything went wrong. It was perfect, and was working well enough that his detractors were having to be a bit more quiet with their complaints. There was a knock on the door, more casual than any military officer or enlisted would have dared as the vulpine walked in dressed in his usual flight jacket, sunglasses and red scarf, followed closely by the more senior hare and another pilot that Pepper didn't know.

"Afternoon General." James was grinning, and didn't bother taking off his sunglasses. "I'm assuming you got our report once we hit planet-side?"

Pepper gave a practiced smile and motioned for the three to sit in the chairs before his desk. "I did, another job well done. I imagine you are here for your check, as well as your next assignment. But first, who is this?" He looked over at the third pilot in the room, one he didn't know from any military service.

"This, is the third member of StarFox, Pigma Dengar." James said, still grinning. "Two pilots flies a little light for some missions, even for _my_ tastes it's too risky. "Pigma, this is Brigadier General Cornelius Pepper, we usually call him just General for short as he's the only one we actually work with anyways these days."

Hands were shaken before the new member sat down. He was quiet, even compared to Peppy he was quiet. It was Pepper who spoke up next. "A pleasure. If you can pass James' standards of piloting I won't bother with any of the formalities. I will need to run a background check though, despite the fact I'm sure James already did."

The vulpine nodded, he had his sources. Pigma's background was frankly- squeaky clean. It had nagged him a little at first, that there was absolutely nothing on a guy who was a pilot and wasn't in the military, but supposedly he'd been flying for the private corporations and everything James could dig into, had checked out. Eventually his misgivings had been put aside given that there weren't exactly a list of volunteers wanting to be on the team despite its reputation. Most mercenaries these days had signed up with Black Sky, an up and coming corporation that provided a shell of sorts for mercenary teams giving legitimacy and the promise of backup and a few other benefits in exchange for a cut of the profits. The military had been authority enough, James wasn't about to go signing up to take orders from a corporate pencil pusher who had never seen combat. Pigma thought that Black Sky took too much of a cut for what they offered. "Naturally, sir." He glanced over at the third pilot. "Probably at some point need to work on getting you some form of clearance but, I'm hoping Pepper has something on the list that doesn't require it."

Pepper paused, the sound of his stylus tapping on the tablet before him as he wrote out the authorization to transfer funds to the team's account stopping and there was a moment of silence. "Well, yes, as it is." He stood up and shut the door before he continued. Peppy was trying hard not to give him a quizzical look, but the one ear up one ear down was a dead giveaway. One the general had always found amusing. "However, while it doesn't require clearance, it does require discretion. It's not an official military mission. It's more of a….call it a favor for another branch of the government."

Peppy frowned, although Pigma finally spoke up "Thought the pay was guaranteed more or less on this gig, given its all military contracts."

The middle aged dog smiled, as if it was a silly question that didn't offend him. "Shrewd man I see you've hired James. The pay is still guaranteed, under all the usual terms. I can personally prose you that. It's just going to be a different color and insignia on the check, and a request that you keep it under your flight helmets so to speak."

"Same thing, different money bucket. Yeah that's not a problem General." James agreed more readily than Peppy would have liked, this was strange. He'd never seen things be handled this way in the military. The mercenary program was new but contracting out wasn't, but this was more than outside the norm. Then again things were strange in Lylat these days, times were changing and with it all of the old rules seemed to be in flux too.

"Details just hit your secured inbox" Pepper stated, hitting a button on the tablet before him and swiping an item from one area to another. "My secretary will have the forms for Dengar before you leave. Do try to get the paperwork in relatively soon." He glanced at the still sunglass sporting fox, it was things like that that sometimes wound up being the one problem he had with StarFox. He was pretty certain the last hardcopies he'd gotten had at least four different coffee rings on them before they'd come back - late.

The team nodded, and after a few more pleasantries exchanged, the three headed out. It didn't take Pigma long to fill out the forms, James already knew that the man pretty much had no family or relations and no interest in acquiring them, which made listing them a brief matter. Once they were clear of the main building Peppy looked over at his team lead. "Can I ask why you _didn't_ question the strangeness of that?"

James sighed. "Peppy, does it matter? You know how the military is, we were both in it. It's probably just Pepper working around somebody whose giving him grief or doing some other officer in the Marines or the Army a favor. Given neither are authorized to hire mercenary teams directly."

* * *

**Corneria City - Downtown - Later that Day**

Soft sounds of quiet dinner conversations and silverware clinking against plates filled the restaurant. The constant barrage of to him, terribly loud noise, didn't help Senator Chadwick calm down in the least. The blonde fennec in the black suit cursed his large ears and the hearing that accompanied them again as he waited for his dinner companion. He swirled the glass of wine in front of him before finishing it off and having the waiter bring another. He was halfway through the second glass when he finally seemed to settle down as his associate showed up, ten minutes late. "Cornelius." There was a nod given to the General.

"Todd. Evening. Sorry to keep you waiting, but even I can't keep a three star General from going over his meeting times." The senator nodded in understanding, the explanation sufficient for him as the canine sat down across from him.

"So what news? I assume there's news?"

"Easy my good man, yes there's news, and I think it will please you but give a man a moment." Pepper motioned a waiter who was not too far off over and was shortly brought a tumbler of gin and tonic. He took a sip before he continued. "The job is hired out, to the best team on the list, and you know who that is. They're famous enough for being up front that there won't be any problem with security checkpoints or inspecting cargo."

"You sure they won't look into what's in the crates?"

"No mercenary worth their salt would. Bad for business, and risky to know things you shouldn't. Besides, to them it's just another military job from me with a different check. Don't worry about it, I would be shocked if the idea to look even crossed their minds. If it does, the first thing they'd do is coming running to me and I'll explain it away for you. What you're moving is hardly suspicious to casual lookers anyways."

Todd nervously brushed off dust from his jacket that wasn't there and straightened his already perfectly straight tie. "I suppose you're right. The shortage hasn't actually hit yet. For now, the cargo is worth far less to anyone who doesn't know whats about to happen."

"Exactly my friend, exactly. Get another glass of wine and put your mind at ease about it." Pepper sighed, Todd was always such a bundle of nervous wreck, he wasn't quite sure how the man had been elected in the first place.

"And you're sure the paperwo.."

"Don't question my competence, Chadwick." There was a low growl underlying the tone and the fennec's ears stood straight up in startlement before the man looked properly abashed.

"Sorry, sorry. Details keep me up at night, that's all. I meant nothing by it." The desert sand colored whiskers on his face were twitching nervously, although Pepper knew that wasn't the man's tell for lying. Actually that was when the nervous little man was _still_ for a change, trying too hard.

"I know they do. It's why I told you have another drink."

"And in return what do you need then since you've completed your end of our bargain?"

"At the moment, my friend, nothing. I'm sure at some point I'll need a favor, nothing unpleasant or extravagant though." There was a reassuring smile from the General, as Senator Chadwick finished his second glass of wine and ordered a third. Pepper heeled up his glass and lightly clinked it to the other man's. "Too good partnerships and jobs well done."

* * *

**Corneria City - Apartment of Vixy Reinhard****- 19.5 Years BLW**

"James?" The voice that drifted in the still dark bedroom was tentative and mumbled, as it's speaker had just woken up hearing the door of the apartment open with someone who knew the code. Vixy felt the weight of someone else sit down on the edge of the bed and opened one green eye to see her fiancé lean down and kiss her cheek.

"Honey I'm home?" There was a grin on the pilots face that was a mixture of sheepish and impish all at the same moment and Vixy grabbed the spare pillow and thwapped him once with it which he easily batted away with a paw. She glanced over at the alarm clock and blinked, realizing she was asleep on top of the comforter still wearing the sleek black dress she'd meant to welcome him home in.

"At four in the morning. WIth no phone call. James, what the hell?" The hurt in her voice was plain to hear. The vixen rarely yelled, although her temper was terrifying when someone did finally burn through her rather long fuse, but James knew he was in rather deep trouble over this one.

He sighed, and scratched self consciously behind an ear. "Radio silence babe, by the time that was safe to call you it was already 2 30 am. I did text you but I'm betting you'd fallen asleep by then." She was about to berate him for not calling when the fact he'd used the word _safe_ to call her registered and she bolted up right.

"Safe? James, what happened?" She had already flicked on the light on the nightstand and was looking him over worriedly, and reached out one hand to the singe marks on the arm of his flight jacket. "Powers above James, are those blaster marks? Are you alright?!"

"I'm, fine so is everyone else on the team." He put one hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "They missed, really, got the wall behind me and I'm pretty sure it was luck on their part. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn." It wasn't completely true, they'd been able to aim much better than that but still, they'd missed and they hadn't been that good. He caught the look she was giving him, torn between worry and confusion as the mission shouldn't have been that dangerous at least not the one he'd described to her. It'd been truth then too, it _shouldn't_ have gone down that way. The vulpine team lead was still trying to sort out exactly how the situation had arrived at gunfire between himself and another mercenary team. "No, it shouldn't have been a dangerous trip. Yes, something went very wrong. I'm still not sure what though. It should have been a simple escort, we were practically formality just like I told you. I don't even know why anyone was interested in that transport."

Vixy frowned, and looked at him as she tugged off his jacket, inspecting the shirt beneath and relieved to find that it didn't bear similar marks or any other sign of a scuffle. "Are you sure who gave you the job was upfront about what you were escorting? I don't see how scientific equipment would be that valuable on the black market either. It's not like it's exactly easy to pawn off or use.."

"Job come from Pepper babe." James let her take the jacket and then put an arm around her as she curled up against him. He glanced down at his fiancee, the black dress contrasted dramatically with the red fur that covered most of her but matched the darker markings she sported on her arms and legs, as well as her ears. A series of fused pieces of green iridescent glass strung together hung from her neck, offsetting the white fur there as well as the rest of her coloring beautifully. Glad to see her didn't begin to cover it.

"Another one of his unofficial ones though?" There was suspicion in her voice. Vixy wasn't liking the amount of "off the books" jobs James was doing for Pepper. He nodded.

"Yeah, but, babe it's just a different pay bucket. I've explained this. It's weird but, I'll try to find out."

She sighed, frowning but nuzzled against his neck anyways. "I'm just glad you really are okay, even if you are late. James….you would turn down a job if you thought something was off, right? Even if it's Pepper asking?"

"C'mon, you know the answer to that."

"I do, but I need to hear it from you." Green eyes gazed up at him again, worry and love both filling their depths.

"Absolutely I would turn it down. I have you to come home to." James gently lifted her chin with a hand and kissed her, gently removing her earrings and necklace and putting them on the nightstand.

The two foxes spent the scant few hours before dawn doing anything but sleeping.

* * *

**Corneria City - Apartment of Pigma Dengar****- 19.5 Years BLW**

The slightly round figure knocked the alarm to snooze again before remembering that the next job was slated in a couple of hours. Pigma's feet hit the floor and went scurrying about his apartment grabbing his things together. The last team mission hadn't gone so well, and he really disliked having to book things so tightly together. He did miss sleeping in half the day on days off.

But there was one thing in Dengar's world that was more important than being comfortable and lazy when he could, and that was the money it took to acquire being comfortable and lazy. So up it was despite getting in late, and that the other two members of his team were bound to be home with their respective women and snoozing or plotting out absurd things like movies and picnics. Not that either of his other team members knew that he was working additionally outside of the StarFox name. What business was it of theirs though, he wasn't using the Team Name or it's resources while he did so.

Some of the jobs were oddly easy - as if various checkpoints and security systems had been turned off or pre-programmed to ignore activity they otherwise should have picked up and noticed. Others were simply strange, things that could have been sent by any normal delivery ship were suddenly showing up as mercenary jobs, not that anyone could precisely "recall" what the normal items were when asked. Seemingly the sender had ensured their silence one way or another. There were patterns forming that a more attentive mercenary or smuggler might have noticed. Pigma however, was much more focused on more immediate goals and ensuring that his side work stayed _quietly_ to the side. At this rate he'd be retired before he hit forty. Which wasn't nearly soon enough but he was sure he'd manage better. He just needed to find out who was paying for the really _dirty_ jobs.


	3. Dreams and Nightmares

**Author's Note:** Well, drat. I went and became one of those people who lets a thing lie far too long. So many apologies. Life, job stuff, you name it has been in the way but somehow this chapter just was insanely hard to write anyways. I'll be trying to update more regularly. Reviews appreciated (especially if you have suggestions/thoughts on how it compares to the original version/ whether the story is more interesting for the other characters now!) I do think this is probably the weakest chapter of the three I've written so far, but I have no idea how to fix it.

**Outside Corneria City - Lylat University Research Lab - 18 Years BLW**

LEDs and various displays blinked around the lab, each indicating the status or results of some measurement upon it's assigned experiment. The soft hum of fans could be heard, as workers in gloves and covered boots and masks entered and exited the sterile room. At 5pm, they each drifted out again as they wrapped up their work for the door, and headed out into the courtyard to catch the shuttle back to the city. Save for two.

The lead biologist was working late, hunched over a microscope observing the effects of the latest nano-bot design upon living tissue. Petri dish samples, of course. It was designed to repair cellular damage, or destroy cells too damaged to repair. The implications were fantastic. The results so far were disasterous. Avery Andross scowled in disappointment as he shoved his chair back and stretched his back. "No good, no good at all" He muttered to himself scribbling down more quantified observations of the failures in experiment 37b.

Upstairs, unknown to the primate, the lead AI expert who he had called into consult was currently copying files of all his future experiments. Locked beneath four layers of encryption, what should have been completely secure was anything but. Then again, Beltino Toad had designed the encryption systems they were using, that he could also get past them would in hindsight be far from surprising. Some of the requests Andross had made of him, how he wanted various pieces of software for his nanobots written, made the amphibian quite uneasy. It might be terribly useful, but some of it had some terrifying potential if used for the wrong purposes. Beltino wasn't so sure he wanted to open that particular Pandora's Box without knowing why he was doing so.

Files in hand, and a second copy stashed in the hidden compartment in the bottom of his insulated travel coffee mug, he headed down towards the lab floor and waited at the door for Andross to exit the airlocks. "We need to talk."

A warm smile was given in return, disarming in how friendly it was. "I had thought you would have left for the day by now. What do you need Beltino? I had tried to give you much better specifications this time, but we can work on them again if there are still some questions." Gray was just beginning to creep into the primate's hair and beard, as he approached fourty. It gave him a look somewhere between distinguished researcher, and somewhat father-like. Most of his staff found him rather agreeable , although Beltino had the feeling it was best to keep his distance from the other man.

"No, the specifications are fine at least in terms of clarity. I have some reservations about them though. Giving artificial intelligence the ability to alter it's own programming is...dangerous to say the least. It would take me some time to put the proper safeguards in place, but to be fully honest with you, I don't see any reason that your current plans need such a capability. Unless, you have other plans I'm unaware of?"

Instead of an angry scowl or a denial that such plans existed, Andross kept the same warm smile on his face. "Ah. I should have imagined you would start asking those questions. It's easier explained from my side of the fence, so to speak. Biology is not all so neat and tidy as the textbooks would like you to believe. I realize it's not your field, so I'll expound a bit. The reason I wanted the ability to adapt was that once we have our preliminary designs right, there's a list of other applications dealing with rapidly changing and varied problems I'd like to look at. Think viruses for example where the mutations are quite wide for the same disease in some cases. Imagine the ability to wipe out something like, the common cold, in an entire population."

"I see. That still doesn't explain why you might want it to be able to rewrite its behaviors. That's pretty well beyond the scope of even that. Nevermind that we're at least ten years away from this being in real production if everything goes well for the first goals." Beltino frowned a little as he spoke. The two scientists never argued, this was about as heated as their discussions got, but he was more than willing to change that fact.

"Behavior yes, but not the core directives. Those shouldn't be alterable other than by us. As long as it's behaving in accordance with the goals we give it, it shouldn't be all that problematic should it?"

"Assuming the goals we give it are always going to be good ones. I'm not so sure I necessarily think.."

Andross waved a hand and interrupted him. "Then make it alterable only by yourself and I, if it makes you feel any better about it. At least for now, and we can delegate that to only people in the future who you approve of. It would be a shame to hold this back when it's so needed." Beltino folded his arms over his lab coat, as if mulling it over as the primate continued. "Look, go home, think it over, I can give you more examples in the morning if you wish of instances where this would be remarkably useful. I think you'll come around to the idea that the benefits of this vastly outweigh the risks. We're talking changing the lives of everyone in the entire Lylat system for the better Beltino. Think about that for a minute. No, don't answer me right now, go home and think about it."

**Corneria City - StarFox Team Hangar - 18 Years BLW**

"James, are you sure?" Disbelief tinged the voice of the hare as his team leader informed him they were taking a break from flying maybe for good.

"I have to, Peppy. I have a family. Vixy didn't like how often I was gone anyways, and now there's going to be a kid any day now. What the hell do I know about being a dad? Absolutely nothing! I definitely wouldn't learn it either if I'm never there!" Anxiousness at the decision left James pacing the floor of the hangar they were in. It was everything to fly, and here he was giving it up for something that was more important. The vulpine didn't question his priorities, but he did question whether it would work out. He didn't know anything but flying. He balled his fists and was geared up for the next round of arguments when Peppy relented.

"Which is a good reason if I ever heard one. I just never thought I'd see it. I do understand James, you know I have my own family. I just never thought I'd see the day where you thought the risks were heavier than I did."

"Oh now this is bullshit." Pigma interjected. "You're both out of your heads." James started to open his mouth and Pigma didn't give him the moment to interrupt. "Don't even start with me. You call me up when you've come to your senses. If you haven't noticed, this leaves me in a hell of a position."

James sighed. "It really doesn't. I'll give you a recommendation to any team you want. You know that will get you a spot just about anywhere piloting."

"You better." Pigma folded his arms, still unhappy. Mostly because he knew a more strict team would eat into his side jobs, and StarFox frankly earned more than a lot of the other teams.

"That said James, lets not sell everything quite yet. Jobs aren't all that easy to come by for pilots who don't fly. Give it a couple weeks and make sure that it pans out, then we sell the ships and split everything out that was team owned?" Peppy had his doubts about this, but mostly because he knew other pilots who had tried the same. Few of them managed to keep their feet on the ground, and none of them were James McCloud.

**Corneria City - Home of Vixy and James McCloud - 18 Years BLW - Several weeks later**

"He's perfect. He's got your eyes." James leaned over the crib, his son's tiny hand gripping onto a finger while his other arm wrapped around his wife. The redder furred vixen swatted him lightly and laughed as she hugged him back.

"And your fur coloring. Quite the handsome little fellow. We'll see whether you still say that when it's your turn to feed him at 4 in the morning. You might think he's a little less than perfect then." Vixy teased.

James gave her a sideways look. "It's not like I won't be up anyways given I'm on second shift till further notice" He loathed the only job he'd managed to find. Even then he'd had to practically beg for it, which had grated on the todd's pride more than a little. Working at the space docks was at least steady work, but it was mind numbing.

His wife frowned, mostly because she knew he was unhappy with it, but there was little she could do about it. Her job as a nurse in the city hospital didn't give her any connections or sway to try and help him get something better. "James." She sighed. "When I go back to work we're going to have to figure out who can watch him when we both have the same shift."

"I don't know Vix, there's not exactly room in the budget to pay anyone for it. Even when we get the ships sold most of that will go to the debt on them." It worried him, although he didn't say more as he continued to play with his son who was happily unaware of his parent's troubles.

"My mother does keep asking to move in with us…"

"Vix…." James sighed. He really didn't want his mother in law moving in. Then he really would go off the deep end, as if staring up at the sky every night watching others come and go as they flew it wasn't bad enough. He was trying to convince himself that it wasn't something he needed, something that wasn't slowly driving him in circles to be grounded all the time. "C'mon. You really wouldn't want her to be here all the time would you? I know you two get along and all but, indefinitely?"

Vixy leaned against the dresser in the room and watched her mate. "No, I wouldn't. I'd suggest moving to somewhere cheaper, but then that just means a longer rail ride for both of us. And worse schools when he gets older."

"The commute I'd take, the schools I won't." The tone implied there was no argument on the latter. James furrowed his eyebrow in frustration, he'd been trying to make the numbers work for weeks. It always came up the same, or close enough it didn't make a difference. He felt his wife leaning against him and her muzzle against his cheek. "We'll make it work, somehow."

The fox cub beneath them giggled and reached up for his mother. She lifted the small boy they'd named Thaddeus, although most of his relatives called him "Todd", which James had turned into simply "Fox" much to her chagrin and his father's amusement. She hated him being gone, but she also hated the way he dragged in from his shifts. She'd wanted him to stop being so reckless and worry about the future a little more, but not like this. "Maybe you should go back to doing what you're best at. I know I said I wanted you to be more careful but..I didn't ask you to quit James."

"I know you didn't. I know you hate when I'm gone for so long sometimes too. I just…I can't seem to make this _work_ Vixy. And I should be able to."

"And I hate seeing you this frustrated. Life's not perfect, I'll deal. Just, promise me you'll be more careful. I am not doing the single mom thing." She nuzzled against his cheek again. "I was thinking maybe one day he'd have a little brother or sister, maybe a couple of them. You know, a few to drive you crazy and make your fur go gray. I think you'd look good in gray, personally."

"I promise. I'll call Peppy in the morning. Thank you. I know it's not what you want. It's not what I want either. Well, not entirely." James laughed and turned to kiss his wife, only to flinch when his son grabbed at the fur on his ear before he grinned again. "Yow! Hey grabby paws, I was having a moment with your mom here buddy. One day you're going to understand the whole "girl" thing."

Vixy just rolled her eyes.

**Iliona, Ervi System - Village of Abandale - 17 Years BLW**

Even the children of the village noticed that the past several months had been unusual. The weather had turned colder earlier than anyone could remember and crops were failing, although most of the younger members of the village didn't understand fully what that meant for the coming months. Amathla had been asked many times whether things were going to get better. For now, she had said she did not know the spirits would not speak to her. In truth, they had but the answer they gave her made no sense to her. Light followed by cold and darkness beyond anything she'd ever known. As ill as it boded, the seeress knew better than to give answers before she herself understood them. Sometimes omens were far from what they appeared on the surface. It was only a few more days until the Hunter's Moon and the annual gathering of the villages, which meant only a few more days until there would be at least two others gifted with sight who might could assist her in deciphering what sparse answers she had been given.

Until that time though, Amathla pretended on as if she knew no better and went about her other mundane duties. The white furred wolf took another item of clothing off of the drying line, and paused putting a hand to her large middle as a pain went through her for a moment and then was gone again. Her second child was not due still for another moon, if not a little more. "Ember, come get this basket for me." Her voice carried over the yard to the child on the other end of it, a gray furred cub with white markings and violet eyes. Ember Ó Dulchaoinaill looked up from the carved wooden toys he'd been playing with and scowled, ears going out flat to the sides of his head, although he stood up and trudged over across the yard and picked up the basket full of clothing. "You can go back to playing once it's inside Ember." The wind picked up as the wolfess watched her rather temperamental son go inside and she glanced towards the sky, her brows furrowing.

The next few days seemed an eternity, Amaltha torn between whether she wanted to know what her visions meant, and the pressing need to understand and keep her village safe By the time the appointed day arrived, anyone could tell she was on edge. She and Piarelyn jad even wound up yelling at each other in perhaps the second argument they'd ever had. Now she walked beside him in uneasy and anxious silence. The moon of Ervi hung low in the sky, lighting easily the paths between the torches and homes. Her husband pushed open the door to the his father's cabin, the warmth of the fire inside doing nothing to change the solemn look on her face. Inside, the old gray wolf who was her father in law and their leader waited, four other elders who were all about his own age with varying degrees of scars and grizzled fur sat in chairs nearby him. A wan smile crossed her face when she saw the only two females in the room besides her self. One could easily imagine the three were sisters, identical coloring on each of them, despite the fact they shared no ancestry as far back as anyone could remember and their ages spanned a quarter century difference between them..

Her father in law's voice seemed too loud in the quiet cabin when he spoke. "Amaltha, Piarelyn." He motioned them in and his son to one of the empty seats, as the other two female wolves got up and headed to a separate room. Amaltha tilted her head, slight confusion clear on her expression, and glanced back at the village leader. "I know it is not traditional to have the seeresses confer on the upcoming year until dawn, but given what Elder Tassarion and Elder Friast tell me, go on."

"Yes Elder Dulchaoinaill" Amaltha bowed her head once and stepped into the other room, which obviously normally served as a dining room although it had been hastily cleared out. Cushions in various colors of cream and brown had placed upon the floor for them. The younger of her two peers embraced her gently, but without warning. Amaltha blinked and reached a hand up to stroke the back of the young girl's head. "Halueve? What.."

Ingrid shook her head. "You already know, I think. She and I...get nothing but the same vision. I cannot imagine you don't see the same."

"I do, but I do not understand it."

Ingrid let a harsh "ha" fall from her lips as she shook her head again. "Nor did I. But Haleuve and I together made...some sense of it. I think...the three of us should try together."

Haleuve let out a small frightened whimper, which took Amaltha aback. She'd never seen the other wolf afraid of anything they'd found in visions. "I think, that's the only option we had anyways. It'll be alright Haleuve..."

The smell of ritual incense and faint chanting of the seresses drifted into the main room. The five elders shared their news, which crops had failed, that the northern rivers had iced over early this year, the herds of yakil that the southern tribes hunted were dwindling. Each dismayed to find that hard times seemed to be in front of all of them. Plans were proposed, argued about, and others raised in their place. Merge the tribes into two not five, send scouts to the far south valley to see if the yakil had migrated there, send scouts east to the Great River. Bickering about which plan was best had ensued and they were no closer to having any sort of agreement than when they had started. Consensus never would be reached as the debate was interrupted by the bang of the door to the other room swinging open. All of the heads and ears in the room instantly swerved to look at Ingrid who stood in the doorframe, leaning on it heavily.

"This world is dying."

Shocked silence fell upon the room before Ingrid spoke again. "The darkness and cold is what happens when the fire of our sun goes out." 


End file.
